It’s Wednesday.
Wednesday is President Biden’s 49th day in office.
For day 49, President Biden will receive his daily brief. In the afternoon President Biden will host an event with Johnson & Johnson and pharmaceutical company Merck.
The event for Johnson & Johnson and Merck, comes just a week after it was announced that the two companies would be teaming up to produce the J&J coronavirus single dose vaccine.
CNN reported this morning that a White House confirmed to them that President Biden will announce that he is directing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to purchase 100 million doses of the J&J single dose coronavirus vaccine.
On Tuesday the White House told governors to “expect fewer than 400,000 doses of the J&J vaccine next week.
President Biden added 3 tweets to his already 1 tweet from Tuesday.
@ 12:36 p.m. D.C., time he urged Congress as a whole to pass the PRO Act.
In a statement posted by the White House on Tuesday morning, President Biden offered his support to the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021.
Snips of the statement:
I strongly encourage the House to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021, which would dramatically enhance the power of workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
As America works to recover from the devastating challenges of deadly pandemic, an economic crisis, and reckoning on race that reveals deep disparities, we need to summon a new wave of worker power to create an economy that works for everyone. We owe it not only to those who have put in a lifetime of work, but to the next generation of workers who have only known an America of rising inequality and shrinking opportunity. All of us deserve to enjoy America’s promise in full — and our nation’s leaders have a responsibility to deliver it.
That starts with rebuilding unions. The middle class built this country, and unions built the middle class. Unions give workers a stronger voice to increase wages, improve the quality of jobs and protect job security, protect against racial and all other forms of discrimination and sexual harassment, and protect workers’ health, safety, and benefits in the workplace. Unions lift up workers, both union and non-union. They are critical to strengthening our economic competitiveness.
[Similar to what the President tweeted out in the afternoon] I urge Congress to send the PRO Act to my desk so we can seize the opportunity to build a future that reflects working people’s courage and ambition, and offers not only good jobs with a real choice to join a union — but the dignity, equity, shared prosperity and common purpose the hardworking people who built this country and make it run deserve.
White House.gov. 03/09/2021.
NPR reported on Tuesday that Union Leaders say “the Protecting the Right to Organize Act — PRO Act — would finally begin to level a playing field they say is unfairly tilted toward big business and management, making union organizing drives and elections unreasonably difficult.”
Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO told NPR in a recent interview that the PRO Act was a “game changer,” adding “if you really want to correct inequality in this country–wages and wealth inequality, opportunity and inequality of power — passing the PRO Act is absolutely essential to doing that.”
NPR listed five provisions from the PRO Act:
- So-called right-to-work laws in more than two dozen states allow workers in union-represented workplaces to opt out of the union, and not pay union dues. At the same time, such workers are still covered under the wage and benefits provisions of the union contract. The PRO Act would allow unions to override such laws and collect dues from those who opt out, in order to cover the cost of collective bargaining and administration of the contract.
- Employee interference and influence in union elections would be forbidden. Company-sponsored meetings — with mandatory attendance — are often used to lobby against a union organizing drive. Such meetings would be illegal. Additionally, employees would be able to cast a ballot in union organizing elections at a location away from company property.
- Often, even successful union organizing drives fail to result in an agreement on a first contract between labor and management. The PRO Act would remedy that by allowing newly certified unions to seek arbitration and mediation to settle such impasses in negotiations.
- The law would prevent an employer from using its employee’s immigration status against them when determining the terms of their employment.
- It would establish monetary penalties for companies and executives that violate workers’ rights. Corporate directors and other officers of the company could also be held liable.
The PRO Act passed the House on Tuesday with 225 yea’s and 206 nay’s. According to clerk.house.gov, five Republicans joined the Democrats in supporting the bill. Republican Thomas Tiffany from Wisconsin did not vote.
This is the second time the PRO Act passed the House; according to the Washington Post, in February of 2020, the House passed the bill with a vote of 224-194. It was not taken up in the GOP controlled Senate.
In January of 2020 the National Retail Federation listed 10 reasons to hate what they called the “worst bill in Congress”, writing that if enacted the bill “would strip American workers of critical rights and flexible work opportunities while costing the retail industry billions of dollars.”
NBC News reported on Tuesday that while the bill last year was DOA in the Senate, this time around the Republicans are all but certain to filibuster the PRO Act and that it is unlikely that the Democrats could get 10 Senate Republicans that are needed for it to reach President Biden’s desk.
For more thoughts on the PRO Act @ the News Blender.
At 3:35 p.m. D.C., time he shares a photo of himself, his Vice President Kamala Harris, Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost and Army Lieutenant General Laura Richardson.
The photo, I believe was taken on March 8th, 2021, aka International Women’s Day. On President Biden’s right is Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost, to President Biden’s left is Army Lieutenant General Laura Richardson.
On Saturday the Department of Defense announced that President Biden had nominated Van Ovost “for appointment to the grade of general, and assignment as commander, U.S. Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.”
On the same day, the Department of Defense announced that President Biden had nominated Army Lieutenant General Laura Richardson “for appointment to the grade of general, and assignment as commander, U.S. Southern Command, Doral, Florida.”
In remarks on Monday, President Biden said, that he had sent their nominations to the Senate on Friday; On Friday, I submitted to the Senate for confirmation my first slate of nominations for four-star command positions in our Armed Forces — among them, two outstanding and eminently qualified warriors and patriots.
He went on to say that if confirmed Van Ovost and Richardson will be the second and third women in the history of the United States Armed Forces to lead a combatant commands.
At 6:15 p.m. D.C., time he made a push for the House to pass the American Rescue Plan.
The House is currently debating the American Rescue Plan which passed the Senate on Saturday.
CBS News is reporting that the House is expected to vote on the aid package this “afternoon,” and is expected to pass along party lines and should be on President Biden’s desk before March 14th, when unemployment programs are set to expire.
For Wednesday President Biden has tweeted one-time so far. I imagine if the House passes the American Rescue Plan, he’ll tweet several more times today. In fact, I might even *gasp* have to update this post…
His first and so far only tweet was sent at 8:54 a.m. D.C., time and features a 9 second video clip.
On Tuesday President Biden took a tour of W.S. Jenks & Son a D.C., hardware store.
The video is 4 minutes and 43 seconds long and remarks from the tour can be found @ White House.gov.
The daily press briefing is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. D.C., time with special guest is former Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson.
She’s being brought in to answer questions regarding the influx of immigrants to the Southern Border, which is straining the already strained immigration process.
Live Feed: White House.
This is an Open Thread.
